To assess homophobic attitudes toward gay and lesbian persons and examine how those negative attitudes contributed to risk factors that may impact gay and lesbian persons among a sample of Lebanese individuals. A cross-sectional study, conducted between March and July 2017, enrolled 400 participants aged between 15 and 80 years. 129 (32.3%) of the participants had severe homophobic attitudes. An increase in intense homophobia would significantly increase the odds of emotion focused engagement and decrease the problem focused engagement (Beta = 1.05 and Beta = -1.19, respectively). A stepwise linear regression, using the total homophobia score as the dependent variable showed that knowing someone gay (Beta = -12.97), university education level (Beta = -14.93), high monthly income (Beta = -4.33), and higher problem-focused engagement subscale (Beta = -0.54) would significantly decrease the total homophobic score. Our study supports the prevalence of homophobia among people in Lebanon. Understanding the correlation factors and predict discriminative attitudes can be of great help for policymakers when it comes to approaching the problem of homophobia with evidence-based solutions.
Keywords: Homophobia; attitude; coping strategies; gay; lesbian.